


Christmas Arrivals

by MeredithBrody



Series: Pretty Little Distance [7]
Category: Designated Survivor (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, alex is dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 09:34:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14041332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeredithBrody/pseuds/MeredithBrody
Summary: Tom meets the newest member of his extended White House family.





	Christmas Arrivals

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hideous_Sun_Demon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hideous_Sun_Demon/gifts), [PinkAngel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkAngel/gifts), [Fibi94](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fibi94/gifts).



> This, obviously, focuses primarily on Seth/Kendra because Tom is fucking _oblivious as shit_ and has yet to realise that Lyor is anything more than a close friend to the couple. 
> 
> It is set exactly 1 year after the season 2 midseason finale.

**_December 25th 2018_ **

Tom Kirkman hadn’t expected to be walking into a hospital to see a baby again this Christmas. This was exactly where he’d been 12 months earlier when he had found out about Alex’s accident. Kendra’s phone-call had been ringing in his ears on and off since he’d woken up, and he could hardly believe that that had been a year ago. The phone call he’d gotten this morning, the one that had lead to him being here, was considerably more pleasant. He had arrived at the hospital with Penny and Leo, waiting with the rest of the senior staff in the waiting room. Tom smiled when he saw Judith wheel herself back down and nod to them all. “It’s a little girl, she’s quite small but perfectly healthy. Seth will bring her down soon, but they asked if you could go up and see them first, Tom?”

He was touched by that request, and he just nodded and stood up, watching Penny run over to tell Judith all about the things she’d got for Christmas. It wasn’t hard to know where he was going, a member of the White House senior staff was here, a visit from the President had been expected, surrounding rooms had been closed. He stepped into a closed seating area and smiled seeing Seth stood by a window, clearly holding his daughter as he looked out. “How is the newest member of our family?” Tom asked to bring attention to the fact that he was there.

“Making daddy feel like a giant. Are they always this tiny?” Seth muttered quietly, and Tom saw that he hadn’t been looking out the window at all, just down at his daughter. Tom remembered that feeling with both Leo and Penny. It was an indescribable feeling to hold your child for the first time, and you knew in that moment that your life had changed forever. Nothing was ever going to be the same as it had been when you woke up that morning. “How do I look, sir?” Seth asked after a second, and Tom just stepped up a little and adjusted how Seth was holding the tiny baby.

“Like a new dad.” The experience of that moment was the same no matter how many children someone had. The newness of that particular baby made it all harder. “They grow so fast, they don’t stay this size for long.” Tom smiled, stroking the tiny girl’s cheek. She had a slight tan, like her father, but other than that she was all Kendra. Delicate features and a mouth that curved at the corners, making her look like she was already smiling. “She’s beautiful.”

“Come on through, Kendra will be glad to see you.” Seth said after a few seconds of silence, still holding his daughter. Tom wondered if he would feel this proud if Leo and Penny became parents, because it was a wonderful feeling. He had been protective of them both as long as he’d known them, and watching them grow together as people and as a couple had been something he couldn’t be prouder to have been a part of. Now Tom would be here for the next great adventure.

“You’re a dad now, Seth.” Tom said quietly, putting a hand proudly on the young man’s shoulder. In just under two years Tom had seen him go from an unsure junior staffer to a confident advisor, friend and now father. This situation was really just making Tom think about life in a different way, and he hadn’t thought that the birth of someone else’s child would be able to do that the same way the birth of his own had.

“I know, I can’t hardly believe it.” Seth’s smile was one of pure happiness. He held the baby higher and smiled softly. Tom had a feeling that that nanny Kendra had spoken about them getting was not going to happen, this baby was going to be brought up in the White House. “Look at what I did.”

“You did nothing, mister. That’s all on her mother.” Tom remembered getting a similar warning when Leo had been born and he’d been similarly bragging. It was true though, Alex and Kendra had been the ones that did the hard work. He and Seth had been little more than supports in this journey. The bragging should go to the mother’s, but they were rarely as interested in showing off what they had created.

“I still can’t really believe she’s here, or that I had a hand in making her at all.” Seth’s voice cracked a little, and Tom gave the shoulder another tight squeeze. It would soon wear off, and though Seth would still love it, he wouldn’t be quite this adoring when he hadn’t slept in four nights.

Tom turned his attention to Kendra and worried a little that she wasn’t sat out there with them. Though Seth had been planning to take him through they’d both been distracted a little by the baby that had just joined them. “How is Kendra doing?” He asked, deciding that their attention should go back to her too. There was a part of Tom that wasn’t going to be able to settle until he’d seen her.

“She’s great, had the delivery I think she wanted, really.” Tom didn’t really want to hear about that, but he knew that it was an important part of this too. Seth clearly didn’t notice Tom’s momentary change in demeanour, he was too busy focusing on his daughter, and Tom thought that Seth was going to struggle to put her down now. “She wanted it to be as natural as was possible and it was certainly that.”

“May I?” He asked instead, motioning to take the baby. Seth immediately handed her over gleefully, though he still hovered for a moment while Tom moved the little thing into his arms slightly more comfortably. The baby was light as a feather, and this close up there were more of Seth’s features obvious too.

“Come on, Ken’s through here.” Seth motioned after a few seconds, and Tom was happy to follow through while carrying the baby. She was content to just lay in his arms and stare up at him, very wide awake for such a small, new thing. Curious about the world and wanting to know what was going on around her.

Tom followed Seth into a more hospital-like room where Kendra was sat up in the bed talking with a nurse. He knew that it was tiring having a baby, and he was surprised that she was awake. Alex had fallen asleep pretty much as soon as the doctors and nurses had been done with what they needed to do. “Kendra, don’t try and get up.” He didn’t want her to try and stand on ceremony like it seemed almost everyone did when he walked in a room, but Tom had a feeling that Kendra would have not done that regardless.

“Glad you said that, though I had no intention of doing so anyway.” She confirmed his suspicion a moment later, and Tom realised that she sounded as tired as Alex had been, even if she maybe wasn’t falling asleep quite the same way. Tom stepped further into the room and smiled while Seth went straight up and sat on the edge of Kendra’s bed. “Has Seth told you he ended up delivering her?”

“No?” Tom replied, turning his attention to Seth who managed to look a little sheepish while still smiling widely. Tom just shifted his weight a little and smiled back. He was going to have to add some lines to his description of Seth for a future book if things like that kept happening. Obviously Seth had done it perfectly too. “You’re a hero dad, huh?” He prompted, but Tom knew that Seth wasn’t going to brag about it himself and they would all have to wait until Kendra told the story.

“She just decided she was coming out faster than the ambulance could get to us.” Seth shrugged and shook his head then nudged Kendra a little. Tom was happy to see that they were still in good spirits, no doubt despite being exhausted. “We wouldn’t have needed one if _someone_ hadn’t said she wasn’t in labour until she needed to push.” Seth teased her, and Tom was touched that they were allowing him to see this part of their relationship. He doubted it was something they showed at work all that much.

Kendra wasn’t letting Seth get away with teasing her, clearly, and Tom kept listening to their discussion while he turned his attention back to the baby who was still wide awake in his arms. “Hey, it was alright in the end.” Kendra defended herself, leaving Tom chuckling at the heavy sigh from Seth.

“Does this little beauty have a name yet?” He asked, unsure if they had decided before she arrived or if they were still debating one. Names were the hardest part of having a baby, Tom thought, you had to pick the word that that child would respond to for the rest of their lives, most likely. It was a bigger decision than most people thought.  

“Yes, yes she does.” Seth smiled and took hold of Kendra’s hand then he faltered, clearly deciding that it wasn’t for him to say. At least, that was the impression that Tom got from the look that crossed his face. “Go on Ken, you should be the one to tell him what we called her.” Tom then turned to Kendra and watched her take in a big breath.

“She’s called Anila Alexandra, sir.” _Alexandra_. Tom felt the lump in his throat solidify and the tears jump to his eyes. He had never expected that to be something they did and Tom felt an additional rush of protectiveness and love flow through him as he looked down at his late wife’s namesake again. Leaving Kendra a silent moment to explain further. “We wanted to honour Alex with her name. She was as much a part of us all getting to this point as anyone else was.”

“It’s a beautiful name to go with a beautiful girl.” Tom said, not ashamed at all of the tears that did fall. They had really picked a wonderful name for their daughter, and Tom was proud that he was going to have a part to play in her life at all. There had never been any guarantee of that when they’d found out about her. Things were better now, though, and Tom just wanted to make sure they all knew how important it was they were in his life too. “Hello there, Anila. You’re going to see a lot of me.”

“Sir we did have one more thing to ask you.” Tom hadn’t been paying attention for a moment, so he was a little surprised to be addressed again. “We wanted you to be her godfather.” Seth said and Tom wondered if it was something that Kendra had insisted on. He knew that Seth wasn’t particularly religious at all, but Kendra was deeply committed to her faith. “As you know Kendra is Catholic so it’s quite a big ask, but we thought you’d be perfect.”

Tom smiled and bounced Anila a couple more times watching as her big eyes slowly started to drift close and she allowed sleep to claim her. Another level of commitment to the friends and colleagues who had become a family to him over the last two years. Tom couldn’t imagine ever turning this request down. “I’m honoured, both of you. Thank you.”

“Maybe you two could take her to meet everyone else while I have my last uninterrupted sleep.” Kendra said while yawning. Tom couldn’t blame her for wanting a sleep, and he was sure that they wouldn’t be gone for long anyway. “Bring her back when she wants to eat.” She continued, then leant forward far enough to kiss Seth before laying back and settling herself down.

“For at least ten years.” Tom grinned, then handed the baby back to her father as they stood up. Seth could tell the story of the birth as they walked down to the waiting room where they entire senior staff was waiting to meet the newest member. “Come on, dad. You have a story you need to tell me.” He clapped Seth’s shoulder again and for the first time since Alex died Tom’s heart felt full of possibilities. She was always going to be there, he was always going to remember her on this day, but from now on he would have something positive to think about too, and that was what he was going to focus on.


End file.
